Logo lift up cap

ABSTRACT

Headwear for securely placing eyeglasses and for releaseably retaining a plurality of patches, each of the patches having a hook and loop surface for releaseable attachment to hook and loop surfaces facing outwardly of the cap or hat. The keepers can also be provided with high friction surfaces facing inwardly of the cap to resist dislodgement of temple pieces extending within the keepers

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to headwear such as baseball caps andbrimmed hats, and more specifically to headwear having a means forretaining a pair of eyeglasses and for enabling a user to releaseablyapply and remove patches having logos, slogans and the like.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Sunglasses conveniently keep sun glare out of a user's eyes and improvea user's visibility for such tasks as driving and playing sports.However, when a wearer enters a dimly lit building, or when nightfallarrives, the wearer must search for a place to put his sunglasses. It isalso common for a wearer to take his sunglasses off during an activity,set them down on a conveniently nearby surface, and forget about them astime passes. This forgetful habit leads to millions of sunglasses beinglost annually and also necessitates that the absent minded wearerscontinuously purchase new sunglasses. This cycle of losing sunglassesand having to purchase new ones can become expensive, as many qualitybrands of sunglasses cost well over $100.

One solution to this problem is for the wearer to place the sunglassesinto a pants or shirt pocket until they are needed again, but pocketarticles, such as keys, or even the coarse fabrics of many pant pocketscan lead to scratching the sunglass lenses.

Another solution is presented by inventions which place a pair ofkeepers for retaining a pair of sunglasses upon a headwear article, suchas a baseball cap. This arrangement is represented by U.S. Pat. No.6,237,159 (Martin); U.S. Pat. No. 6,647,554 (Yan) and U.S. Design Pat.No. D503,261 (Pedersen). This solution of placing sunglasses on a hat inthis manner serves the dual purpose of keeping a pair of sunglasses inthe possession of the wearer, while keeping the lenses safe from damageU.S. Pat. No. 7,484,845 (Douglas) refines this arrangement yet furtherby providing for keepers which press the sunglass lenses against thebrim thus resisting the glasses from falling from the headgear when auser tips his head forward

All inventions which provide for keepers in conjunction with brimmedheadgear, such as baseball caps, provide patches or loops which have asole function, that is, to receive temple pieces of eyewear and to thusretain the eyewear above the brim of the hat when the glasses are not inuse.

It is also well recognized that a significant appeal to those in themarket for headgear is the application of indicia to the cap to enable awearer to express one's personal preferences, such as a strongallegiance or affiliation to a local sports club. Without such indicia,sales of caps would be but a fraction of what the market currentlyenjoys

One drawback to current headgear is that once a logo has been appliedthereto, it is basically applied for the life of the cap. If the userwishes to change affiliations or no longer feels it appropriate to weara cap displaying the particular indicia or logo, oftentimes the cap isdiscarded or put in storage, never to be worn again. This happens eventhough there is nothing wrong with the cap and, as a piece offunctioning headgear, it may be as good as the day it was purchased.

It is thus an object of the present invention to provide headgear inwhich various distinguishing logos or indicia can be releaseably appliedthereto enabling a user to change such indicia routinely.

It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a capcontaining keepers for sunglasses and other eyewear and which provides auser with a dual purpose of presenting a surface capable of releaseablyaccepting and retaining patches displaying distinguishable indiciathereto.

These and further objects of will be more readily appreciated whenconsidering the following disclosure and appended claims

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to headgear comprising a hat or caphaving a crown for residing upon and coveting a substantial portion ofthe user's head and a brim connected to said crown for extending forwardand above the user's face when worn, further comprising a pair ofkeepers, each keeper being located on opposite sides of said crown, saidkeepers being positioned and sized to releaseably retain temples of apair of glasses when lens frames of said glasses are in contact withsaid brim, said keepers comprising hook and loop surfaces facingoutwardly of said crown and at least one patch having a first side andsecond side, said first side having a hook and loop surface and saidsecond side having indicia, said first side being releaseably attachableto each of said keepers whereupon said indicia is visible when said headgear is being worn.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a side perspective view of a cap or hat embodying the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of a keeper taken along line 2-2 ofFIG. 1 for use in practicing the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the cap or hat of FIG. 1 showing thealternative application of various patches on the keeper of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Novel features which are characteristic to the invention, as toorganization and method of operation, together with further objects andadvantages thereof will be better understood from the followingdescription considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, inwhich preferred embodiments in the invention are illustrated by way ofexample. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawingsare for illustration description only and axe not intended asdefinitions of the limits of the invention. The various features ofnovelty which characterize the invention are recited with particularityin the claims.

There has been broadly outlined the more important features of theinvention in the summary above and in order that the detaileddescription which follows may be better understood, and in order thatthe present contribution to the art may be appreciated. There are, ofcourse, additional features of the invention that will be describedhereinafter and which will form additional subject matter of the claimsappended hereto. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that theconception upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilizedas a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systemsfor carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It isimportant, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including suchequivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spiritand scope of the present invention.

The present invention is directed to novel headgear, and in this regard,reference is made to FIG. 1. Headgear 10 is shown as a six panel hat,three of said panels, identified as panel members 11, 12 and 13 arevisible as drawn. Panel 12 that would reside at the side of a user'shead and proximate a user's ears is shown bisected by phantom line 14.These various panels constitute the crown of cap or headwear 10 whichfurther includes brim 16 connected to the crown for extending forwardand above a user's face when worn. Keepers 20 are located on the sidesof headgear 10 and, ideally, forward of bisecting line 14 noting thatkeeper 20 has its counterpart on the opposite side of headgear 10 as amirror image of that shown in FIG. 1. The eyeglass keeper 20 retainseyeglasses 30 having frames 24 containing lenses 26 and a pail of hingedtemples 28 extending rearwardly of frames 24 terminating in an end piece38 as temple pieces 28 pass through keeper 20. In doing so, the bottomedge 24 a of frame members 24 resides upon brim 16 thus retainingsunglasses 30 upon headgear 10 as shown.

Uniquely, keepers 30 are shown in cross section along line 2-2 in FIG.2. As shown, keeper 20 is provided with a hook and loop surface 19 whichfaces outwardly of the crown of headgear 10 (panel 12). As a preferredembodiment, keeper 20 is further provided with a high friction surface18 facing inwardly of the crown of headgear 10 to resist dislodgement oftemple pieces 28 therefrom. Ideally, high friction surface 18 iscomprised of rubber, although any other high friction coating or layercan be used herein while remaining within the spirit and scope of thepresent invention.

As stated previously, one of the principal reasons why users opt forheadgear such as shown in FIG. 1 is to display logos or indicia whichadvertise or promote a user's preference, such as an allegiance oraffiliation with a local sports team. Alternatively, many such caps areproduced by a company or corporation which puts their own messaging,such as its corporate logo thereon, and provides them to employees toenable the employees to advertise the company whenever the headgear isbeing worn Whatever the reason, having patches displaying suchpreferences represents a strong motivation for using headgear of thisvariety.

Logos or indicia can be placed upon headgear in several ways.Traditionally, patches displaying indicia or logo are permanently sewnto the crown of the cap. When this occurs, if one's affiliation changes,the cap ceases to be of interest as a piece of headgear to be wornregardless of its functionality.

It is thus proposed that the keepers 20 which have been applied toheadgear 10 for the purpose of retaining temple pieces 28 of eyeglasses30 be provided with yet another function to thus increase their valuewhile yet not increasing the manufacturing costs in the production ofheadgear 10. This is accomplished by providing hook and loop surface 19to the outside surface of keeper 20 to enable it to selectively andreleaseably receive a patch thereon. In this regard, reference is madeto FIG. 3.

As noted previously, an important aspect of the present invention is toenable one to take advantage of keepers 20. Pursuant to the presentinvention, these keepers perform a dual function, that is, to bothreceive and retain the temples of a pair of glasses as well asreleasably receive patches enabling a user to selectively exchange thesepatches to display different logos or indicia on headwear 10 thusdramatically increasing the appeal of this product to consumers.Graphically, this is shown in FIG. 3.

Turning to FIG. 3, keeper 20 is shown positioned forward of bisectingline 14. Keeper 20 is shown having a hook and loop outer surface 19 forreceipt of any of patches 51, 52 and 53. Patch 51 has outer surface 51 ashowing a first logo. Patch 51 is selectively and removably appended tosurface 19 through the use of its own hook and loop surface 51 b. Once auser, for any personal reason, wishes to remove patch 51 from keeper 20,it can simply be pulled from the keeper thus releasing the hook and loopsurfaces from one another and replacement patch 52 inserted upon keeper20 by engaging hook and loop surface 19 with hook and loop surface 52 b.Outer surface 52 a is shown having a second logo displayed thereon.Similarly, patch 52 could be removed by simply applying thumb andforefinger pressure to a corner of patch 52 thus disengaging thecomplimentary hook and loop surfaces and patch 53 placed upon keeper 20by engaging hook and loop surfaces 53 b and 19 A third logo is shown onouter surface 53 a. As will be quite apparent to anyone contemplatingthe present invention, virtually any logo, be it a team emblem ormessage can be employed while remaining within the spirit and scope ofthe present invention.

The above disclosure is sufficient to enable one of ordinary skill inthe art to practice the invention, and provides the best mode ofpracticing the invention presently contemplated by the inventor. Whilethere is provided herein a full and complete disclosure of the preferredembodiments of the invention, it is not desired to limit the inventionto the exact construction, dimensions, relationships or operations asdescribed Various modifications, alternative constructions, changes andequivalents will readily occur to those skilled in the art and may beemployed as suitable without department from the true spirit and scopeof the invention. Such changes might involve alternative materials,components, structural arrangements, sizes, shapes, forms, functions,operational features or the like.

Therefore, the above description and illustrations should not beconsidered as limiting the scope of the invention, which is defined bythe appended claims.

1. In headgear comprising a hat or cap having a crown for residing uponand covering a substantial portion of the user's head and a brimconnected to said crown for extending forward and above the user's facewhen worn, the improvement comprising a pair of keepers, each keeperbeing located on opposite sides of said crown, said keepers beingpositioned and sized to releaseably retain temples of a pair of glasseswhen lens frames of said glasses are in contact with said brim, saidkeepers comprising hook and loop surfaces facing outwardly of said crownand at least one patch having a first side and second side, said firstside having a hook and loop surface and said second side having indicia,said first side being releaseably attachable to each of said keeperswhereupon said indicia is visible when said head gear is being worn. 2.The headgear of claim 1 wherein said keepers further comprise highfriction surfaces facing inwardly of said crown to resist dislodgementof said temple pieces therefrom.
 3. The headgear of claim 2 wherein saidhigh friction surfaces comprise rubber surfaces.
 4. The headgear ofclaim 1 comprising a plurality of patches at least some of which havingdiffering indicia appearing thereon.